Megliola: Remembering Framingham's Gary Sinewitz, a dad to the end

By Lenny Megliola/Special to the News

Monday

Feb 26, 2018 at 5:38 PMFeb 26, 2018 at 10:43 PM

On February 12, Adam Sinewitz's stepmother, Peg, called him at his Framingham home. “I was putting the baby [1½-year-old Camden] to sleep,” said Sinewitz. “Peg told me my dad had a stroke.” He rushed to Mass General.

On February 12, Adam Sinewitz’s stepmother, Peg, called him at his Framingham home.

“I was putting the baby [1½-year-old Camden] to sleep,” said Sinewitz. “Peg told me my dad had a stroke.” He rushed to Mass General.

Gary Sinewitz had been battling a rampaging cancer for almost three years. Now, the stroke. His son feared the worst. A stroke? Would he find his dad paralyzed, or incapable of communicating? Would he even recognize his son?

Adam rushed to his dad’s room. A Bruins game gleamed off the TV. Gary hardly seemed out of it. Quite the opposite.

“I watched the game with him. It was fun,” said Adam.

Gary and Adam Sinewitz were big on hockey, the father deep-rooted and knowledgeable, the son a player, a flashy wing at Framingham High, at American International College, and overseas.

In the hospital room that night, this is when Adam felt the stroke hadn’t broken his dad’s spirit. Torey Krug was Gary’s least favorite Bruin. “He hated the way Krug played,” said Adam.

Then right on cue, Krug made a very nice play with a pass to a breaking Patrice Bergeron that was crucial in the Bruins’ win. “So my father, who yelled at the TV more than anyone I know, said, ‘It’s about time [Krug] did something.’”

It will remain an indelible moment in the son’s mind. The next day his dad suffered another stroke. There would be no recovery. Gary Sinewitz passed away a week later. He was 59.

Gary Sinewitz was a straight shooter, a guy who could get to the rub of things without wasting your time, and if there was going to be sports talk, well, clear the decks. Gary was all in.

“He was a big-time sports fan,” said Adam. “He loved the Red Sox. He was getting all excited because spring training was beginning.”

Adam absorbed his dad’s sports knowledge as if it were gospel. “By the time I was two, I knew a lot about sports. My dad coached my baseball teams.”

Adam, 34, turned out to be very good at hockey. Undersized, pro scouts opined that was the only issue keeping Sinewitz from playing pro at a high level, although he finished his career playing professionally in the Netherlands. He couldn’t cut away from hockey, though. He coached the Marian High hockey team for two years and is currently an assistant coach at Worcester Academy.

Gary’s sister, Jayme, 30, took up hockey, and was also a gymnast at Framingham High. Gary was always at the fields, in the gyms and chilly rinks to encourage his kids. “He never missed one of our games,” said Jayme. “He didn’t care if he had to miss one of his meetings. Didn’t matter if we had a 6 a.m. practice or a game that started late at night.”

Dad was there. He even flew to the Netherlands to see his son play.

Gary ran PC Healthstop, now located in Framingham Center. He knew everything about computers. Jayme has volunteered to take over the business. She’s nervous about that. But there’s no turning away. “I’ll do my best. My dad put a lot into the store. It was his legacy.”

She admitted, “I’ve been a basket case for a couple of weeks. I could go to my dad for anything. He always knew when there was something wrong with me. Sometimes he’d sense it before I did. We were both strong-willed. Sometimes they called me ‘Little Gary.’ He’d make a joke of that.

“He’d say I was inside him.” The ‘joke’ being that eight years ago Jayme donated a kidney to her father.

Gary got into computers right out of college, working for Radio Shack. He ran PC Healthstop for 27 years.

Mike Mele was Gary’s top technician in the store the last two years. “Gary would give you the shirt off his back,” said Mele. “He was sarcastic when talking about sports.”

“That’s because my dad was never wrong,” Adam laughed.

Gary could always lighten the load in the store. “No matter what was going on, he’d brighten my day,” said Mele. “He had a cable line in his office to listen to Bruins and Red Sox games. He really and truly was a great guy.”

“A number of people have said to me that my dad was like a second father,” said Adam. Luckily for him and Jayme, they had the original Gary Sinewitz, all the time.

And it was grand.

Lenny Megliola can be reached at lennymegs41@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @lennymegs.

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